René Descartes was a Philosophy and religion good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
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His remains are not in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Even though his name is engraved on the floor, there is no tomb, and if you ask the church keepers, they will tell you the engravings are symbolic and that there are no more bones there. The skull is in the Musee de l'Homme but it is not in display, the real skull is in the research floor. 2A02:1811:C0E:9C00:C1A5:C871:B9D7:3E97 (talk) 01:56, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
René DesCartes signed himself "Renatus DesCartes", as what was his preferred name (at the time).[edit]
This article doesn't substantiate its take on whether Descartes was Catholic or not[edit]
As I'm typing this the first paragraph ends ", Descartes was Roman Catholic", followed by footnotes that, as I'm typing this, are numbered 15 and 16. The first footnote's article does nothing to substantiate the claim that Descartes was Roman Catholic. In fact, on the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, the first footnote's article more strongly implies that Descartes rejected that doctrine than that he embraced it.
The second footnote does better, but falls short of what is needed. To satisfy an encyclopedia-reader who doesn't know if Descartes was Roman Catholic or not (and is indifferent on the point, not hoping that it should turn out that he was (or was not) Roman Catholic, only wishing to know which one is true), we should have, perhaps, some letter of Descartes mentioning his confessing his sins to a Roman Catholic priest, or obtaining Communion from the same. Or some contemporary who witnessed that and wrote it down. Or some writing by Descartes in which he explains why Reason supports some Roman Catholic doctrine while it refutes the irreconcilable Protestant doctrine on the same issue.
Further concerning the article at the second footnote, it says that all of Descartes's books were, at one time, banned by the Roman Catholic church. How is it possible for someone who advocates positions that the Roman Catholic Church says no Roman Catholic should believe to be a Roman Catholic? If that is possible, then what is the MEANING of the phrase "is a Roman Catholic"? (In modern times, of course, the ONLY definition of "Roman Catholic" is "someone who checks the 'Roman Catholic' tick-box for 'religion' on a form", and the ONLY doctrine you have to believe in order to be a Roman Catholic is "I believe I will check the 'Roman-Catholic' tick-box where a form requests my religion". If you believe that, then, in today's world (which disregards the resulting problem of the infinite self-reference's absurdity), you're a Roman Catholic, no matter what else you do (and don't) believe.)
This latter footnoted article also says
QUOTE:
One point of controversy at least can be settled. It was fashionable at one time to throw doubt on the sincerity of Descartes's religious convictions. He was and died a Catholic, in "the faith of his nurse",
UNQUOTE
but doesn't supply any argument or further footnote backing up the assertion that "he was and died a Catholic". It tells us the controversy CAN be settled, but then blatantly does NOT settle it. HOW can it be settled? By this article's tacit position of "He was Roman Catholic, because this article says so"?
To say that Descartes was Roman Catholic requires describing what he believed (as inferred from what he WROTE and from his ACTIONS), and describing how the ONLY religion with which his beliefs were not in conflict was Roman Catholicism. So we'd need some description of the Catholic and Protestant doctrines on those issues too. None of that can be found here, and it's not in the articles footnoted. This Wikipedia article, as written, based on the information it provides, is not justified in taking a stand one way or the other that Descartes was (or was not) Roman Catholic.2600:1700:6759:B000:E894:BFCC:705D:880 (talk) 22:14, 6 July 2024 (UTC)Christopher Lawrence Simpson[reply]
level-3 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
